3. When they stand up for themselves.

Totally out of character for my son he kicked a boy who had been bullying his friend for ages. He was in trouble at school for it, but I was secretly quite proud of him and the bully has left them alone ever since!

4. When they know how to get what they want.

“My second Christmas with a step-daughter, she was 11. She had been bitch all through the holiday season, to the point where other people were noticing. A couple of days before Christmas I over heard her talking to her cousin. Cousin asked: ‘Why are you being so mean?’ She responded: ‘If you pretend you’re mad to them, they’ll think they must’ve done something wrong and feel guilty, so they’ll get you more stuff at Christmas’.”

5. When they have the right answer.

My daughter was in a biology class and her teacher went on a tirade about how poorly her class did on some test. He ranted for 20 or more minutes about how hard he tried, how little they listened, how little they cared, etc.

6. When they exceed our expectations.

I was in the kitchen when my son [7] called for help from the bathroom. ‘Mum, can you help me get the right amount of medicine out?’ When I went in to find him with the bottle of medicine on the counter with the lid off next to it. I freaked out: ‘How did you get the lid off? You’re not supposed to be able to do that!’ He looked at me in surprise and said: ‘They wrote the instructions on the top of the lid!’ I was so proud of his solving things on his own!”

7. When they pull at our heart strings.

“My daughter tried sneaking past me when her mother was at work and tried to get in her mum’s makeup, which was in a cabinet above our toilet. I snuck up on her, and right whenever she was opening the cabinet I asked her: ‘What are you doing?’ She turned around, surprised at first, then grinned as she held her arms out to me. ‘Standing up here so you can...hold me?’ Aww, damn it. I had to hold her after that one.”

8. When they say what we are thinking.

“Back in the spring, my two boys were giving their opinions on a presidential candidate while in the car. They mentioned that if a certain one should be elected, they hope that person is assassinated before they take office. Then start describing ways it could be accomplished and why they think someone should do it. Obviously I shut that down and we had a talk about appropriate vs. inappropriate ways to discuss personal opinions, but damn if they hadn’t said what I was thinking.”